His flashbacks to his time in Iraq had all but faded from his waking hours. Only in a dead sleep did he occasionally have nightmares of that time. His counseling hours had dwindled because he simply didn’t need them. On top of that he’d kept up on the visits with his mother, usually every Sunday afternoon. Cody hadn’t brought Cheyenne along yet. Not when his mom still asked about Bailey at least every other visit. She still wanted to blame herself, believing that Cody and Bailey would be together if it weren’t for her. Privately, Cody agreed with her, but her situation wasn’t the only problem. Bailey didn’t need him … he understood that now. At any rate, things had turned out this way, and now there was no going back and rewriting the past.
“I want you to meet Chey one day,” he told her last time they were together. “But you can’t bring up Bailey.”
“I know.” His mother nodded, obviously frustrated with herself. “I’m trying, Cody … but that girl’s in my heart.” She reached for his hands and gave them an understanding squeeze. “I know somewhere … deep inside of you … she’s in your heart too.”
Comments like that meant that bringing Cheyenne was still a long way off. But the rest of their visit had gone better than most, more uplifting and encouraging. Cody brought a makeshift scrapbook with some of the articles that had been written about him and the team. His mother had only limited computer access, so the scrapbook gave her a window to his football season and all that was happening.
Before he left, her eyes teared up. “Cody … I’m so proud of you.” She pulled the scrapbook close and gave a bewildered look, as if there were no words that might sum up how she was feeling. “Look at you, son … you’re famous. Everyone knows about you.”
Not everyone, he reminded her. But he told her then about the Sports Illustrated article, and the possibility that they would do a feature story on him after this week’s game. Again she was stunned, happier than he’d seen her since she’d been locked up. “The impact you’re making … I can’t believe it, Cody … even with a mess-up of a mother like me.”
Cody spent their last ten minutes together convincing her that she wasn’t a mess-up, but just a person whose addictions were stronger than her. And like always he encouraged her to keep up with her accountability group. “I love you, Mom.” He stood and hugged her shoulders, letting her lean on him. “Read your Bible and believe what it says. You’re free. Now you need to start living that way.”
The memory of their visit faded and Cody stared at the playbook on his desk. But once again the images and words blurred together and all he could see was Bailey Flanigan’s Facebook page, the way it looked last night. He and DeMetri had talked long about the game and then the kid had turned in for bed. And like he hadn’t often done in the last few weeks, Cody found his way to Facebook.
She was in a relationship, of course. Same as him. Facebook photos didn’t lie, and now in addition to the photos they’d taken of themselves, the one Bailey had in her album marked “Fun in the City” … there were pictures taken by fans, where Bailey and Brandon were tagged as a couple. Of course, he didn’t need to go to Facebook to see how close the two had become. He could see that at the local Safeway. The two of them had been photographed at the zoo in Central Park, and again heading into her apartment building.
As much as it still hurt to see her with Brandon, he wished he could make a public statement in response to some of the comments people had made about those pictures. People wondering why a good Christian girl would take Brandon into her apartment. Cody released a sad chuckle. Anyone who would question Bailey’s faith and innocence didn’t know her. It was that simple.
Anyway, at least she was happy … as much as it was hard to think about. Still Cody was glad to see the smile on her face, glad she was making an impact in New York City. And she was … Cody had no doubts. Bailey wouldn’t have settled for anything less than making an impact on the people around her. So the fact that she was